Sack of Cornwallum

The Sack of Cornwallum occurred in 878 during the Viking invasions of England.

Background
Cornwall was a Britonnic kingdom of traders which traded with Wales and Ireland to the north and the Franks to the south, and the leg-shaped kingdom bordered Wessex in the east, with the Tamar River serving as the border between the kingdoms. As a mercantile kingdom, Cornwall was the target of Viking and brigand raids for decades.

In 878, after being cheated out of recognition for their roles in the West Saxon victory at the Battle of Cynwit, the West Saxon soldiers Uhtred of Bebbanburg and Leofric devised a plan to make their own wealth. Leofric suggested that he and Uhtred recruit some West Saxon soldiers whom they had previously trained, and they would dress up as Danes and launch a raid into Cornwall to steal its silver. Uhtred, whose marriage to Mildrith of Liscumb left him heavily indebted to the Catholic Church, decided to join Leofric on a raid, and the band of brigands left Liscumb on horseback and rode to the River Tamar. Aethelwold Aetheling, King Alfred the Great's nephew, secretly snuck into the group, and he was later discovered; while Leofric wanted to have him killed to prevent Alfred from finding out about Wessex's unauthorized violation of a peace with Cornwall, Uhtred owed Aethelwold a favor, and he decided to make him do menial tasks. At the River Tamar, the brigands applied face paint and dressed up as Danes, and they rode into Cornwall.

Raids
For five days, the brigands attacked local towns and villages in search of silver, but instead found that the towns were impoverished due to previous Viking raids. Leofric advised that the bandits head further west, where they met Brother Asser and an entoruage of four horsemen. Asser gave Uhtred a gift from King Peredur, saying that it was a token of peace, and he sough tto enlist Uhtred's help in fighting off the rival Cornish king Callyn, whose forces seized the fort guarding Peredur's land. Uhtred was introduced to King Callyn, who lived in an unimpressive home, and Callyn initially refused to speak to the pagan Uhtred, instead relying on Asser to communicate; Uhtred bluntly asked Callyn to speak. Callyn said that the fort was guarded by no more than 50 men, while the Cornish had 30 fighting men, to which Uhtred responded by saying that he had 20 men. Uhtred then demanded 400 silver pieces, which the King agreed to after having his shadow queen Iseult of Cornwall inspect him.

When the Cornish and brigand forces approached the castle, Uhtred discovered that he had been lied to, and that the defenders were not Britons, but Danes under Skorpa of the White Horse. Uhtred parleyed with Skorpa and agreed to betray the Cornish in exchange for half of the silver, and Skorpa had Uhtred play along when he punched him in the face. Uhtred went back to his battle lines and instructed his cavalry to charge the Danes, but, as the two sides were about to meet in battle, Uhtred had his men turn around and encircle the Cornish warriors. The Cornish warriors were slaughtered down to the last man, and Peredur was forced to give up the location of the silver, which was buried in the hole under his throne. While Skorpa promised to spare Peredur if he gave up the silver's location, Skorpa stabbed him in the heart.

Skorpa and Uhtred headed back to Peredur's home, where Iseult voluntarily told them the location of the treasure, having anticipated Uhtred's arrival. However, Skorpa betrayed Uhtred, taking all of the treasure and leaving Iseult behind. Iseult then guided Uhtred to another secred treasure, buried in a dungheap outside of the king's home; the men dug through it and found the large chest of silver. Uhtred decided to give the large cross to the Church to settle his debt to Bishop Aelwold, and he divided up the rest of the silver among his men.